Reservoir simulation is an area of reservoir engineering that employs computer models to predict the transport of fluids, such as petroleum, water, and gas, within a reservoir. Reservoir simulators are used by petroleum producers in determining how best to develop new fields, as well as generate production forecasts on which investment decisions can be based in connection with developed fields.
Software simulations of oil and gas reservoirs are typically based on data that has been previously collected by an engineer and entered into an “input data deck.” This data may include down-hole data collected by well monitoring sensor systems, surface data collected by reservoir monitoring systems, solution/output metrics, and data interpretation. Exclusively using previously-collected data prevents the reservoir simulation from reacting to dynamic reservoir changes that may happen during a simulation run. Thus, although existing approaches to reservoir simulation have been satisfactory for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.